This invention relates generally to techniques for producing apertures in thin materials, and more particularly relates to the production of nanopores.
Nano-scale apertures, herein termed nanopores, have attracted much research interest because a nanopore that is provided through the thickness of a nanometrically-thin membrane offers the ability to achieve exceptional resolution for a wide range of molecular sensing and analysis applications, such as DNA sequencing applications, and enables very little flow resistance when employed for, e.g., nano-filtration applications that are in graphene or other very-thin-material membranes, defined here as being of a thickness that is less than about 50 nm, and can be less than 5 nanometers. However, the fabrication of nanopores in such atomically-thin materials, has conventionally be conducted by, e.g., drilling with a focused electron beam. Such processing is tedious, expensive, and can be low-yield because each nanopore must be individually fabricated, e.g., in a high-resolution electron microscope, and because the nanopore size is difficult to tune. In addition, hydrocarbon contamination can be introduced and can accumulate in and around a nanopore during electron beam pore drilling. Such contamination, as well as the inherent surface condition of the material around a nanopore, can render the nanopore hydrophobic, thereby prohibiting wetting of the nanopore. As a result, the reliable, repeatable production of functional nanopores remains a fundamental nanotechnology challenge.